Morna's Legacy: Box Set #1

by Bethany Claire

  The revelation of all Niall had done seemed expected, I could see it in his eyes that Baodan now knew the evil that lay within his brother. Osla’s betrayal would be what stopped him cold. And it did.

  “No.” Baodan stood and took an angry step in Eoghanan’s direction. “I know that I wasna fair to ye after she died, and I canna apologize to ye enough. I know that ’twas no yer fault, but I willna allow ye to speak such lies against her.”

  Eoghanan glanced at me sideways, and my heart squeezed uncomfortably at the hurt I knew Eoghanan felt at his brother’s lingering mistrust. I stepped out of the shadows and pointed at the table where the journal lay. “Baodan, don’t. He has no reason to lie to you. It’s right there.”

  He turned and looked down at the closed book, raising his hands in frustration. “What’s this?”

  “It’s hers,” I said softly. I didn’t want him to read it, but I knew he would not believe it otherwise.

  “No. She dinna know how to write, nor read.”

  “Aye, she did, Baodan. I taught her meself.”

  Baodan’s clenched fists showed the only sign that he heard Eoghanan’s words. Hesitantly he flipped open the worn cover. Every bit of me wished I could prevent the pain coming to him.

  * * *

  Much time passed, and I couldn’t breathe with the anticipation of his reaction.

  When he spoke, anguish filled his cracked voice. “’Twas Niall. He killed her, dinna he?”

  Red eyes brimming with unshed tears faced us as Baodan turned from his seat. I wanted to run to him and throw my arms around him, but I couldn’t bring myself to do so. This pain stemmed from a time before me, and he didn’t want me near him in this instant.

  “Aye, but ’twas only after Mother fell that I learned the truth meself.” Eoghanan took one step toward his brother but stopped as Baodan held up his hand. He wished distance from us both.

  “Ah, ’tis why ye sent her away?”

  “Aye.”

  Baodan stood, his eyes moving back and forth between me and Eoghanan. The pain etched on his face hurt me to my core.

  “Thank ye for telling me. If ye will excuse me, I should like to be alone.”

  “I’m afraid ye doona have time for that, sir. The entire Conall clan along with yer mother has just arrived at yer door.” All of our heads turned in unison to see the hurried maid scurry back down the stairwell.

  Baodan nodded and stepped toward the doorway. “’Tis good that they have come. We shall need them. Rally the keep and make ready for trouble. It comes.”

  “Ye stay as long as ye need, Baodan. I’ll go and see all is done.” Eoghanan assured him as he waved him back.

  I stood still until Eoghanan retreated, but I could refrain myself no longer, whether he wanted it or not. I needed to touch Baodan. “I know you want to be alone and I’ll leave you in just a moment, but I…I need you to know that I’m here.”

  One lone tear spilled out of his eyes, and I reached my thumb up to brush it away. He grabbed my hand and held my palm against his face, not trying to hide the pain. It meant more to me than he realized.

  “I’m verra glad for it, lass, for I feel quite out of sorts with the world.”

  “That’s okay, you don’t always have to be so strong.”

  He placed his own palm against my face and pulled me close, stroking my hair with his fingers. “Aye, today I do, lass, but there is none that gives me strength the way that ye do.”

  Chapter 34

  No longer within Niall’s reach, Kenna would no longer keep her silence. Otherwise, I could see no reason for her to bring all of the Conalls with her on her return home. Yet Baodan seemed glad that she brought so many. She knew the support of many clans would be needed to end Niall.

  Walking hand-in-hand, Baodan and I made our way down to the castle entrance. I grew more nervous with each step. For if the clans gathered, it meant battle approached.

  “I wish I’d used a knife on him instead of my hands,” I said.

  “What did ye say?”

  “Oh.” I hadn’t realized I’d even uttered the thought out loud. “Um…I said, I wished I’d used a knife on him that night. Then he’d already be dead.”

  “Ach, lass.” Baodan continued moving but looked down at me in shock. “I am verra glad ye did no such thing. If ye had succeeded, ye wouldna be able to deal with the killing of a man. Ye are too soft-hearted.”

  “Pssh.” The sound escaped as I rolled my eyes. I’d love the opportunity to knife the sick asshole.

  “Oh, me God. She’s alive.” Baodan pulled away from me and ran across the main entryway, scooping up a woman I assumed to be his aunt into his arms.

  I stayed back, allowing them a moment, smiling in relief that she eluded Niall’s grasp.

  I heard her approaching before I saw her. The quick, hurried step and fast voice a sure sign that Adelle came my way. I looked to my left to see all of my favorite girls approaching, accompanied by a shockingly attractive older gentlemen who had to be Adelle’s husband.

  “Oh. My. Gosh.” I mouthed the words, emitting no sound as she passed, grinning like a schoolgirl. I turned my head to follow her and held up my hands in question.

  “I know.” My best friend’s mother’s words were a high, happy screech, and she latched on to my arm in her delight. “This…” we turned in unison, “is my husband, Hew.”

  I extended a hand in his direction and he took it gladly, his giant hand swallowing my own. “It’s very nice to meet you. You must be quite something to have wrangled in Adelle.”

  He laughed a deep, friendly laugh, and his smile reached his eyes. The best smiles, from the kindest people, always did.

  “Ach, I am verra pleased to meet ye. I have heard much about ye.”

  “Oh no.” I laughed as I shook his hand, unable to draw my attention away from his beautiful brown eyes and shortly cropped hair. He stood out from all the other men in this time, and it suited him.

  “All good things.” He retracted his hand and nodded before turning to leave us, sensing, I suppose, our desire to talk about him.

  “Adelle, you hooked a good one.” I tried to whisper, but so tickled with the shock of seeing her so settled, my attempt at a whisper failed. Both Bri and Blaire laughed and scooted in closer to join the conversation.

  “I think somebody’s got a little crush, Mom.”

  Bri winked at me, and I reached out to run the side of my hand across little Ellie’s sleeping face. She looked beautiful with a baby in her arms.

  “Oh, give me a break. It’s just that I’m happy for her is all. I’m happy for all of you.”

  “Ditto.” Bri lifted the baby and nudged her head in the direction of the staircase. “Will you show me where I can lay her? Then, we can all resume our visiting while Baodan and the men sit down to their planning.”

  “Yes, of course.” Together we walked up the staircase. “What did Kenna tell all of you?”

  “Most everything, I think.”

  Bri didn’t seem overly worried, which was very odd, but it did help to calm my anxious nerves. Motherhood suited her.

  “Kenna said she told you two she was coming to see the baby, but she was really coming to ask for our assistance. I suppose she didn’t want to tell Baodan at the time. She wanted him at home to watch over McMillan Castle and, if he’s anything like the Conall men, he would have turned around to follow his mother had she told him.”

  “Yes.” I nodded. “He would have.”

  “We were readying to leave when Nairne showed up, exhausted and sick from traveling by foot for days. She is grief stricken but mainly she’s angry as hell. She watched her son die before her eyes, and she knew instantly Niall was to blame. Kenna told her all she knew before she headed our direction.”

  “God, I can’t imagine. Witnessing the death of her son, unable to stop it, then dragging herself all the way here. It’s terrible.”

  “Yes.” The baby stirred in her arms, and she bent to kiss Ellie gently on the foreh
ead before continuing. “All of it is, and he must be stopped. It’s scary, you know, how you can spend time around someone and just never see who they really are. Granted, I’ve not spent much time with Niall, but I always thought him rather harmless.”

  I shivered at the thought of anyone thinking him harmless. Then again, I’d had a very different introduction to him than most. “No, that’s not the word I would use to describe him. Here.” I opened the door to Baodan’s bedchamber. “You can put her in here.”

  I knew it to be much too early to know for sure, but I felt very different. As of late, the food here actually tasted good, and I found myself inexplicably dizzy at random times throughout the day. My body just felt weird.

  I wanted to see what a sleeping babe looked like in the center of our bed. If my suspicions were correct, there’d be one joining us there soon enough.

  Chapter 35

  “Mitsy, lass, wake up.”

  Baodan’s lips brushed my brow and I stirred, grinning into the blanket. I sat in a chair I moved next to the bed and only my top half lay on the blankets, my hand extended with Ellie’s precious little fingers wrapped around one of mine.

  “There is a visitor in me bed.” He bent, wrapping his arms around me as his cheek pressed against my own, and I turned to kiss the side of his face.

  “Yes. Bri needed to rest after the journey so I told her to leave Ellie with me, seems I needed to rest as well.”

  “Aye, ye look lovely next to a bairn.”

  “Hmm…” I wasn’t certain, and I would tell him nothing until I was. “What’s been decided?” Delicately pulling my finger from Ellie’s grasp, I twisted in my seat and stood so that I pressed flat against him, my arms wrapped around his waist.

  “We will leave in the morning. Me own men, along with the Conalls and many of their men. It should end easily, but I canna say for sure with Niall. I doona believe many at Cameron Castle will follow him should he try to stand against us, but he is cunning. He willna go without one of his games.”

  “What will you do with him?” I ran my hands up and down him, tickling his bare back with my fingertips. His week away seemed an eternity. I wanted nothing more than to stay with my arms wrapped around him forever.

  “Kill him, lass. There is no other end for him. No more chance for redemption.”

  “I’m sorry. It shouldn’t be that way. You shouldn’t be placed in that position, not with your own brother.”

  “No, but we all go through things we shouldna have to. Ye taught me that, lass. Ye have taught me many things.”

  I moved my hands to the side of his face and stretched to plant a kiss on his beautiful lips. “I don’t know about that. You give me too much credit.”

  “No.” He grabbed my face so that our positions mimicked one another. Suddenly, his eyes grew very serious. “I doona give ye enough. There is something I must tell ye, lass. Something I wished to say to ye many a night ago but ’twas interrupted. The words have been on me heart since that night, and I willna be able to breathe well until I have them said.”

  My skin covered itself in goosies as fireflies danced in my stomach. “What?” I grinned, my cheeks prevented from spreading wide by his hands on the side of my face.

  “I love ye. Without doubt nor hesitation, none in me life has ever captured me heart as ye have.”

  “Surely not.” I knew he loved me, but he didn’t need to lie. I also knew the special place Osla occupied in his heart.

  He shook his head, pressing his lips against me before speaking again. “Aye lass, surely so. I understand yer meaning and aye, even more than her. Osla was me wife and I did love her, but no like this. ’Twas only that before ye came to me, I dinna know that love could be any stronger than the love I had before. But, Mitsy, it can. I am hopeless against ye. ’Tis no only me heart that ye have captured, but me verra soul. Ye reside here,” he tapped his chest, “and I intend to keep ye there forever.”

  Mr. Darcy himself, in the flesh, could not have beaten that speech. My eyes started watering and my lip trembled. I looked ridiculous and Baodan’s face fell instantly.

  “Have I upset ye, lass?”

  “Oh, God no! It’s just, well, gracious, what did you expect a girl to do with words like that? I love you too. You know that.”

  “Then marry me, lass. Tonight.”

  “Yes. I want nothing more.”

  I expected him to kiss me. Instead, he smiled and stepped abruptly away and spoke to the doorway. “Come in, lassies. She said aye.”

  “What?” My arms hung in the air, still hugging empty space. “Everybody already knows? Well, that was a gamble, wasn’t it?”

  He laughed and shook his head. “From yer reaction, I doona think that it was. I canna wait a moment longer, lass. If ye had said no, I doona know what I would have done, for all is ready except ye. I wish to be married to ye right away.”

  As exquisitely happy as I was in that moment, a part of me wondered if his hurry also had something to do with his plans for Niall.

  Did Baodan fear that he might not return from his reckoning with his brother and wanted to give me the protection of his name and clan?

  The thought put me very ill at ease.

  Chapter 36

  All gathered by the pond. The sun set in the distance, casting beautiful rays of light that bounced off the rippling water as it dipped into the horizon.

  “Are ye ready, dear?” Kenna patted me as we locked arms, and I shook my head at the tears in her eyes

  “No, you can’t cry! I’m already about to lose it. If you cry, I’ll cry, then I expect Baodan will cry. It simply won’t do.”

  “Verra right, dear.”

  Kenna laughed and pulled away to sniffle and gather herself. When she returned to my side, her eyes were red but dry. As good as they were gonna get.

  “I’m very fond of your son. I didn’t think, I didn’t expect to be doing this again.”

  Adelle started blubbering on the other side of me, and I forced myself to turn away from Kenna. “Oh no. Not you too. Go clean yourself up.”

  I whirled back to Kenna who laughed quietly. “We are a fair mess, are we no? I am verra glad that ye are fond of him. I am fond of him as well. And of ye, dear. I doona believe there has ever been two people more deserving of the other’s affections.”

  “Thank you. I’m ready. Let’s do this.”

  In a flash, Adelle returned to my side, fresh as a daisy.

  As we started our walk toward the gathered group, I smiled, all nervousness gone.

  * * *

  Our eyes locked as I neared him. From that moment, nothing else in the world mattered but Baodan.

  He reached for my hands, and the rest of the ceremony passed in a blur. I knew not what I said or how long it lasted, but I knew for sure it didn’t matter at all. Only something so right could be so absorbing.

  His kiss at the end came suddenly, and I melted against him as everyone erupted into cheers around us.

  For all my chiding of Kenna and Adelle, my own tears flowed freely as we walked down the center of the crowd as husband and wife.

  “Thank ye, lass.” He bent and whispered in my ear.

  “For what?”

  “Ye have given me back what no man can live without. Love. And hope. Ye have given me back me hope, Mitsy, and I couldna love ye more for it. I’d die before I ever lived without ye from this day forward.”

  Chapter 37

  “I think you must be part fish.” I teased him at his suggestion that we have a bath brought up, clearly another set up for a water escapades of sorts.

  “Part fish?” He wrapped his arms around my waist and nibbled playfully at my ear.

  “Yes, water’s great, but let’s just get busy in the bed this time, not the water. I think my back is still bruised from those rocks.”

  “Get busy, lass? ’Tis like learning another language, listening to ye speak.”

  He worked at the laces of my dress, brushing my hair aside as he kissed the back o
f my neck.

  “That’s exquisite.” I allowed my head to fall back against him, as my dress fell away.

  He dropped his hands, drawing circles down my bare back with his thumbs. I tensed as he brushed over the tender spots about halfway down, and he immediately ceased the pressure. “Ach Mitsty, I am verra sorry, lass. ’Twas no me intention to cause ye harm.”

  “I know. You didn’t cause me harm.” I laughed at his dramatics. “It’s just a couple of bruises.”

  “What was it ye told me that day? A kiss would make it better, aye?”

  “Mmm…something like that.” I arched against him as his lips trailed down my spine, his hands gripping my waist to keep him steady as he trailed downward.

  He placed one light kiss on each small bruise then nipped quickly at the highest part of my bottom. I yelped and squirmed away from him, but he grabbed me quickly, scooping me up as he carried me to the bed.

  “Fine, I doona care where I bed ye in this moment. Whether it be in the water, or the bed, or before a crowd of onlookers, I want to fall asleep deep inside me wife.”

  “Eeek. I don’t think your mother or your brother would enjoy that sort of show, so let’s just keep it in the bedroom.” I laughed as he threw me onto the bed, diving on top of me as he kissed me roughly.

  I moaned as he bit my lower lip, keeping it in between his teeth as he tugged it toward him. It was deliciously painful, and I feared I might shatter beneath him even before he touched me.

  I needed him inside me, to cling to him as I lost myself for the first time as his wife.

  I said nothing, but he understood what I needed as I moved against him, and seconds after I removed his kilt, he slipped himself inside me.

  The first time moved quickly, our need for each other too raw to stretch out our release. No matter, much night remained and, as the evening passed, we took advantage of every instant of our first night of betrothal, making love to one another until dawn.